“He was despised and rejected - a man of sorrows…Yet it was our weakness he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.”
Isaiah 53:3-4
I’ve sat in this scripture for a few days now, and one thing keeps resonating in my heart.
Jesus, THE Jesus, grappled with mental illness.
If he carried my weakness, he specifically carried depression and anxiety with him.
And honestly, it’s very clear why.
He was isolated in a society who hated him. Even worse, his one constant, his own Father, turned away at the cross.
While I medicate and meditate and plead for deliverance from loneliness, he willingly plunged into that cold darkness.
I think sometimes it’s easier to assume others don’t share our struggles, that they’re just wired differently.
We emotionally excuse ourselves from empathy towards others, claiming ignorance to their circumstances.
But the path Jesus walked was one of extreme, intentional vulnerability.
He shared in our sickness on purpose, so he could empathize with our condition.
What a friend we have.
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